Since the initial oil embargo of 1973, automotive vehicles, particularly passenger cars, have steadily decreased in size and weight, primarily to conserve fuel. At the same time, there has been increased interest in motorcycles, which are inherently much more fuel efficient than even the smallest of automobiles. On the other hand, motorcycles are inherently less safe than automobiles and are unacceptable to many potential motorist users. The present invention is concerned with a small automotive passenger vehicle that retains the light weight, inherent fuel economy, and performance characteristics of a motorcycle while at the same time providing many of the basic safety features of a conventional automobile.
Achievement of a combination of the desirable features of both types of vehicles presents a number of difficult technical problems, particularly in relation to the frame and the body of the vehicle. Thus, it is most difficult to provide a strong, durable, and safe frame and body construction, typical of an automobile, in a vehicle that is in the same general weight class as a motorcycle and that retains the performance characteristics of a motorcycle. The same situation applies to a construction that will afford the operational stability of an automobile in a construction having a weight not substantially greater than that of a large motorcycle.
Esthetic considerations are always of substantial interest in connection with automotive vehicles. If a manufacturer of automotive vehicles provides a substantial variety of different body colors, as often demanded by the purchasing public, a dealer must maintain a large stock of vehicles to satisfy immediate delivery demands. The stock requirements for such dealers can be greatly reduced if the entire external body of the vehicle is readily removable and replaceable. In these circumstances, the dealer need stock only a limited number of vehicles together with a substantially larger number of bodies of different colors and in different styles. A vehicle body and frame construction allowing for prompt substitution of one external body for another, by the dealer, can thus effectively increase the overall stock of the dealer though only the number of different bodies not complete vehicles, is increased. At the same time, a removably mounted body shell on an automotive vehicle affords the dealer the option, in the event of an accident, of lending a temporary body to the vehicle owner during a period when body repairs are being effected, so that the vehicle continues in use even during major body repairs.